There have been many studies measuring the effects of caffeine on exercise performance. Quite a few used runners and cyclists as subjects. New research published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition investigates whether this popular sports nutrition formula helps with anaerobic power and strength.

On 4 occasions separated by a week, 13 male subjects used a medicine ball to determine upper body explosive power, did vertical jumps to gauge lower body explosive power, had their one rep max on the bench press calculated and completed a Wingate anaerobic power test.

When they used a pre-workout 20 minutes before testing, there were significant improvements in anaerobic peak and mean power compared to no supplement and placebo conditions. According to this study, strength and power were not improved with caffeine.